


New town old town

by Onehyperboi



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante Lives, Eustass Kid is a Little Shit, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Law gets befriended against his will, Law is very gay, M/M, Ocs will pop up and yall should be able to tell which ones are important, Strangers to Lovers, Trafalgar D. Water Law Needs a Hug, also kid does have a mom and dad but his relationships with them are complicated, kid also needs hugs, kid is very bi, killer and penguin are also hella bi for each other, law is very repressed and gay just give him time, like kids stepdad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25328515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehyperboi/pseuds/Onehyperboi
Summary: Kids lived in this old town his whole life, its comfortable and familiar, how does the new guy shake things up for him?Law hated change, and he hated this town even more, can anything change his mind about it?(Obligatory high school au, I'm a sucker ok?)
Relationships: Eustass Kid/Trafalgar D. Water Law, Killer/Penguin (One Piece)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 87





	1. Morning

Kid dismissed his alarm for that morning and slid out of bed, yawning as he made his way over to the bathroom, checking his texts as he lazily brushed his teeth; They fell into the same pattern they always did, 60 or so texts from Killer about whatever prevented him from sleeping that night, 15 or so texts from Heat asking him about class stuff as well as work-related issues and 1 text from Wire wishing him a good night.  
As usual, he read over Killer's texts and responded in kind to what Killer was talking about, answered Heat's questions about school and work, and sending a quick good morning text to Wire; Rinsing his mouth with mouthwash and getting to washing his face, walking out of the bathroom and into the closet.  
He was picking out what he was going to wear that day, deciding on a band shirt with a striped undershirt, black ripped jeans with probably an unnecessary amount of chains, and his signature goggles holding his hair up, satisfied with how he looks clothes-wise, he made his way over to his vanity.

The makeup part was easy, some eyeliner, his red lipstick, and foundation, no need for contour or all that shit, the basics do a damn lot for him, he also checks to see if his eyebrows need to be plucked again, he did it once on impulse but now it's just part of his look.  
Now that he feels right in his skin he heads downstairs, keeping his lipstick in his pocket for reapplication later, making his way over to the fridge he grabs everything he needed to make Breakfast for himself and packed his lunch for that day.

A text from Killer came while he was cooking, a grin forming on Kid's face as he read it.

Kill: "a new guy is coming to our school, a north boy, wanna greet him south style?"

Kid: "hell Yeah"

He got into his car, texting the others to be ready when he gets to them, and pulling through the drive through of the McDonald's, sending a quick text to Killer letting him know he owes him 40 bucks for breakfast.

Naturally that was the first thing he got from him when he picked him up, Killer knew that in order to get his breakfast he needed to pay up that day.

"Don't complain because it's your turn to pay. Anyways got any info on the new guy?" Kid said, Killer only nodded as he checked his phone.

"I know a friend of his, I even have his address so we can get to him first" 

"Oh shit, you're joking right?" He nearly choked on his own drink.

"No"

Putting his mech arm up in silent victory Kid busted out into a huge grin.

"How did you manage that?"

"His friend is vaguely aware of our south style greeting, and knows we are probably the nicest of them, Heat already has the beer for it"

"That's so fucking sick dude, fuck how did we get this lucky"

Killer only hummed as Kid drove to heat and wires houses, the two getting into the back as Killer claimed shotgun by default.

"Kill said you brought the drinks right, heat?" Kid let out another grin as head held up the pack, Killer set up the GPS to go to the new guys house

"According to his friend, the guy we are looking for is named Law, and I'm refraining from showing Kid the picture of him because hes driving"

Killer leaned over to the back seats as Kid cussed him out, showing the other two guys who to look for, heat grinning himself as he looked over the picture and wire giving a soft smile as he shook his head.

Kid didn't have the energy to bother asking what those two found so funny about the new guy, but still had enough to bitch Killer out.

"Fucking asshole I'm always driving, fuck you"

He calmed down as he drove, the car in a comfortable silence for now.

-~-

Law probably hit snooze about a million times before finally getting out of bed, a scowl on his face as he threw on whatever was clean enough, he didn't want to move here damn it, he wanted to be back north with his friends, but no, Cora had to move here because of work, so he and law had to pack up and move into this shitty apartment.

Grumbling as he walked out of his room he was greeted with Cora making breakfast, the man has only made eggs and was currently putting out the fire he started, Law letting out a loving but exhausted sigh.

"Oh, morning Law! Sorry breakfast has been delayed a bit sit down and I'll get it too you in a sec"

Not feeling like speaking or making food for himself, he sits at the small table, pulling his phone out and checking over the messages his friends back north sent, mostly just a bunch of 'I miss you!' And 'please tell us how school goes!' Though a few texts from Penguin made him smile softly, It’s nice knowing his friends will at least try to keep contact.

Cora set the plate of slightly burned bacon and eggs, and a cup of coffee in front of law, sitting down opposite to him with his plate and coffee.

"Hey, I know this is all hard on you but it has its benefits! My new position pays better than my old one, and hey, it's a bit safer here anyway…"

Law cringed somewhat at that last part, he didn't like being reminded of how Cora's older brother still had his shadow falling over them, sure he was safer here from him but at what cost? Everyone he ever knew and cared about was up several miles north.

He couldn't even bring himself to pick at his food, and got up from the table going to the bathroom, his hair was a mess and he looked so tired, bags hanging under his eyes and a scowl stitched on his face, a lean frame hidden under a baggy hoodie and loose jeans.

He was interrupted by Cora knocking.

"Law? You ok in there?"

"I think I might be sick… I'm feeling nauseous" intentionally he made himself sound soft and quiet, he knew Cora had a weakness around him being slickly

"Law… I know you're not sick, it might be nerves about being in a new place but please come out and at least try to eat breakfast? I promise it's not too burnt"

Law sighs as he splashed his face with water in an attempt to at least be somewhat clean, drying his face off with a towel and practically dragging himself out of the bathroom, sitting back down and taking a bite of breakfast.

"I just… I just want to be back north…" 

"I know you do" Cora said softly, gently reaching over the table and ruffling Laws hair. "It will be great here, I promise, I'll make it great if I have too"

Law sipped his coffee and checked his phone again, as Penguins text tone went off again.

Peng: "I'm sending my boyfriend and his friends to pick you up, so like, don't be too shocked when strangers start knocking on your door or smthn?"

Law nearly spit out his coffee when he saw the attached photo because holy fuck Penguin knew how to choose them, the focal of the picture was a somewhat tanned blond with long shaggy hair that covered his eyes (briefly Law wondered if he could even see with that much hair over his face) wearing a blue tee, a olive skinned guy in the back with teal dreadlocks and what law hoped was face paint in the style of stitches and a tall lanky man wearing a shear top.

But no that's not what really caught his attention, what really caught it was the pale redhead in the drivers seat, who looked so much like laws type it wasn't even funny, he didn't even notice his jaw dropping and a blush forming until Cora spoke.

"Oh? Law are you ok? What did Penguin send you this time?" Law snapped his phone to his chest as Cora leaned over to look, his blush being very noticeable on his face as he clicked the phone into sleep.

"None of your concern" his voice was ripe with all the vocal cues of embarrassment, which only made Cora laugh, maybe today wouldn't be so terrible...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain dragged me out of my writers slump and told me to write kidlaw again, so here I am, writing this fic while i have another wip


	2. First impressions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally done this chapter! Sorry for the wait! Also all of your comments were so lovely! I've read them probably a million times and they still make me all giddy! I lov you readers all so very much!

Kid huffed as he waited in the car, Heat restlessly shuffling in the back and Wire waiting outside of the car by the door, Killer slipping up into the apartment building through someone else leaving, Kid had half a mind to press his head against the horn but decided the headache wasn’t worth it, Killer needed to hurry up already and get this guy down already damn it. When Killer finally came down the stairs damn near dragging someone he figured was Law, he couldn't really see him at this distance, just the general shape of someone who was definitely protesting Killers every action right now, relief and irritation washed over his body, he was definitely planning on bitching Killer out again.

His words caught in his throat when he actually got a good look at Law, sharp grey eyes glaring daggers into Killer, soft looking messy black hair, face slightly red from anger and lips spitting insults, dark skin only broken by patches of silky white, god no wonder Killer didn’t show the photo of this guy, Kid was already distracted by how gorgeous he was. The door to the back was opened and Law tossed in, Wire returning to his spot effectively trapping him. He snapped himself out of his small trance to focus on the task at hand. Turning and making eye contact with those stunning stormy eyes. 

“Get comfortable back there and hold on, I haven't put in the middle seat belt yet.”

There was barely any time for Law to even react before Kid put the car into gear and was speeding off, he let out a wild laugh as Law panicked and was held somewhat in place by Heat and Wire, everyone but Law having wide grins as Kid drove around. However they still had to greet him properly, so Kid parked in their usual hangout spot, which was several blocks away from the school.

Not that Law knew that.

"Alright alright, gotta make sure this Franken car doesn't kill us after that, oh yeah, Law right? Got some drinks there for you in the back somewhere” Kid slipped out of the car and to the front, propping up the hood to check the engine

“For fucks sake, you lot practically kidnap me, toss me into a death trap of a car! Nearly fucking kill me with reckless driving, and you can’t even be assed to give me your names? God you are so lucky Peng warned me...” Law got out of the car, Likely to avoid staying in the so-called death trap for a moment longer. "Plus I have no doubt that this is going to make me miss my first class."

Kid rolled his eyes, what a nerd.

"M'names Kid, that's Killer, that's Heat, and that's Wire, there, got our names, now drink up" Kid comes back around and pops the trunk, gesturing for Wire to toss him a pop from the cooler there.

Law hesitantly took the 6 pack that Heat picked up from the backseat, it was ‘hard’ root beer, a little local brand made them and outside of those regular to the area, not many people knew it was even alcoholic, lovely how stuff like that exists unregulated out here. After letting his own pop settle, Kid cracked it open and took a gulp, he needed to cool down a little, and busied himself checking over his car.

A silent victory washed over them as Law started to drink, and his face twisted up as if he just had something nasty. (To be fair the stuff had a pretty unpleasant afterburn)

Kid gently closed the hood of his car and admired Law as he drank, everyone else drinking their own flavors of pop, as to not be suspicious.

"This tastes like shit." This got a laugh from most of them, Killer only letting out a snort, as Law had already gone through 3 of the cans.

"And you're still drinking it" 

"You spent money on it, I was taught better than to waste a gift that money was put into" Law's words were starting to get a little jumbled now, evidence of the incoming buzz and drunkenness.

Kid wonders what kind of drunk Law was, was he sleepy? Happy? Sad? Well regardless they'll know when he finishes the pack at this rate.

-~-

Law was certain that the world was testing him, He expected Penguins boyfriend to buzz in at any time, he didn't expect the knock on the door and the guy having a solid 5 inches on him in height, crap Law felt his knees going a little weak at the sight of the blond. The picture did absolutely no justice to the guy in front of him.

"Penguin warned you that I was coming to pick you up right?" Law only nodded, not trusting his voice at this moment, Cora seemed tense because of the sudden appearance, however once Law confirmed to him that he did expect this guy and that he knew Penguin, he relaxed a bit. 

"Well Law! No use keeping you here any longer right? Your ride is here I'm guessing?" The blond nodded and Law was rushed to get his shoes on, Law was well aware this was Coras way of getting him out the door fast so he didn't have time to change his mind about this, or convince Cora to let him stay home, it was a nuisance sometimes how well Cora knew him.

Once the door to the elevator closed, the guy turned to him.

"Don't know if Peng warned you but we greet new people here in special ways, be lucky it's us doing the greeting and not anyone else"

"Excuse me? The fuck do you mean by greeting?" Law was pissed Penguin didn't tell him about this

"Depends on who you ask, for some it's dunking you into the toilet and making you walk around soaked, for others it's an eating contest with your least favorite food, depends on which group catches you first"

"And I got caught by yours, because Penguin sent you my address"

"Yep, makes us both lucky then" 

"How"

The blond only smiled in response to that, and gripped Law's wrist.

"Trust me, you'll understand, and since only one greeting is needed, you avoid the worst of it, just take the gift when it's offered." 

Oh no, Law was not about to go into this without much more information than that, when his wrist was gripped he started with his tantrum, the blond being completely unfazed by him, and dragging him to a car that looked like it was about to fall apart, literally throwing him into the backseat, where he landed somewhat on the guy with dreadlocks still sitting there.

When he was trapped between the two guys in the back, he fought his blush when he made eye contact, that damn redheaded driver, fortunately for him, any attraction he had would quickly be crushed by the redheads words. What the hell did he mean by no middle seat-belt yet. 

Thrown from his thoughts his brain kicked into survival mode as the car sped off, dangerously weaving through traffic, Law suppressed any panicked noises he would have made, but it showed on his face, yeah, Penguin knew how to pick them alright, apparently he knew how to pick them god damn out of their minds.

When they finally stopped in an alleyway Law could not get out of that deathtrap any faster, at least the driver (whom he found out the name of was Kid) had the sense to check to make sure it wouldn't kill them. Definitely would have ran the rest of the way to the school if he even knew where that damn place was.

When he was handed the drinks he wasn't sure how to feel, he figured that this was the gift that Killer had talked about, and well if the only thing this greeting involved was drinking all of this then it was miles better than the other options he mentioned. So he opened one and took a gulp.

And resisted the urge to spit it all out, alright, nasty after taste aside this wasn't all bad, he just had to make his way through it quickly, they probably expected him to drink this whole pack of nasty rootbeer, maybe make him wear the empty cans or something and done, no other greeting would happen right? 

On the fourth one he felt very off, his mind hazy and his movements sluggish, but he didn't mind it so much, it was pleasant and warm, like being wrapped up in one of Coras old coats. He let himself be pulled back into the car after he finished off the pack, the seat being just comfortable enough to let him doze as the car drove off in a much less chaotic manner.

His dozing was only interrupted by Heat and Wire keeping him awake, apparently he needed to be awake at school for this to work properly, a gut feeling told him that Cora probably wasn't going to be very happy to hear about this, but he ignored it in favor of sinking more into that fuzzy feeling.

He had more interesting things to do right now then worry about Cora anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also for the record everyone is 18, the legal drinking age where I'm from. Also Cora is best dad, tries to keep his poor Law out of trouble, such a shame as the writer I cant let him do that muahahahahaha


	3. Mistakes

Kid could tolerate many things, he could tolerate people taunting him, he could tolerate the weird looks he got, he could tolerate the way people avoided him, but by fucking god he could not tolerate the situation he was in now.

Sure the plan had gone about as smoothly as they hoped, minus whatever Killer had to endure to get him to the car, and Law was plastered in the backseat, dozing lightly on a good moment. It's when Heat or Wire woke him up that made the normally short drive feel like hours, Kid had wondered what Law would be like drunk, he had even briefly wondered if law was into guys when he first saw him, well now he had both answers.

Law was leaning into the front seats, only held back from climbing up front by the other two in the back, Hands combing through his hair with as much gentleness as the drunk could manage, at literally any other time Kid could have appreciated this, but while he was driving it was an unfortunate and frustrating distraction. It did not help that Killer had pulled his phone out to record. A quick glare was shot to him, as usual there was no real reaction to it, just the biggest shit eating grin he could make.

"Killer if I crash the car because you didn't stop him it's your fault. Also whatever the hell your recording better not find it's way anywhere out of the car."

"I'll keep that in mind as I write my will, also I'm under obligation to send this to Law's friend, sorry."

"Yeah your sure sorry, sure fucking sorry for this I'll make sure of it. Fucken hell Kill you know what this does to me.

"Best damn Kid calming the fuck down technique I've ever had the pleasure to use."

"Sleep with one eye open tonight asshole."

Finally making it to the school and parking the furthest they could manage from the building, and began the process of getting Law to let go of his hair.

"But it's so soft and pretty!" Law whined as Kid made every visible effort to detach him, a pleading look shot to Killer, Heat and Wire in turn, only to be met with Killer taking a photo with a small almost unnoticeable smile, and snickers from Heat and Wire. Assholes.

Law's hands were eventually detangled from his hair, and they led the drunk inside, classes were starting to change at this point and everyone could see Law stumbling, teachers passing by the group, acting as if they ignored them hard enough the situation would simply go away. It's not like they actually cared about this right now anyway, all of them knew how greetings went, all of them have participated in one or another when they were teens, and unless Law did something seriously attention grabbing or encountered the principal at some point he should be fine.

So Kid cursed his horrible luck of coming across said principal.

"Well, isn't it my regulars, you four come along and bring your… latest victim with you." Kid had a special hatred for him, he couldn't fucking stand that asshole for a myriad of reasons.

Leaving Law to be sobered up by the receptionist and the rest, Kid was taken into the back office alone, being seated down, he hated being here on a good day, hated being in this office and hated being in front of this man without cameras. Though he counted himself lucky that he wasn't completely alone here, Kid knew he hated having to silence anyone who could hear.

"Now Kid, let's talk about what you've done today."

-~-

As he sobered up, Law felt the panic settle in, he knew somewhat what he was getting into when he was handed the case but he had no idea it was alcohol, now Cora was going to be called and he's going to get that look from him again like when he smashed a coffee maker in a small fit of rage as a child. At least they had the decency to let him get sober.

Looking around the front office area, to his left Killer, Heat, and Wire are sitting on the other chairs, Killer on his phone looking rather bored, Heat apparently taking a nap, and Wire being used as Heats pillow. To his right a receptionist was doing whatever he needed to at that moment, probably writing down the incident of him being drunk.

In front to the left was a staff bathroom he was in earlier when the beer didn't quite agree with him anymore, to the right of that was the exit to the rest of the school. A place he really didn't want to be in right now.

"Glad to see you coherent again," Killer had set his phone into his pocket "but honestly we didn't mean for you to get caught so quickly, couldn't even wait for you to have some serious fun right?"

Law did not share the same sentiment about being drunk in public like that, looking away so that he wouldn't be seen pouting, and letting out a heavy sigh.

"Cora is probably going to kill me…"

"Not as much as he's going to kill me." Killer didn't seem too phased by the whole situation. "Considering I'm the one who came up to get you, whatever, he can get in line." 

Law took note of how relaxed Killer looked, obviously they've been here fairly often, Heat was woken up as the principal called them into the back, Law was unsure of how to feel about the relaxed mask slipping off a little from them, what kind of man was the principal if he has them on edge like this?

"Now boys, I'm surprised that you would pull this kind of stunt after what I said in the beginning of the year, and taking advantage of a new student like that will… let's see here, Wire will get a 3 day in school suspension, Heat you'll get a 5 day in school suspension, and Killer you will get a week out of school suspension, and boys do remember that this is me being very kind, now as for Kid and Law's punishment, Law's father is on his way now, and I will be chatting with him about that, now if there are no questions.." he glanced to the 5, almost expecting one of them to question him about it. "Then those with their suspensions may leave to go and fulfill them, you know where the detention room is by now I hope? Especially considering how often you end up there." The 3 nodded and left quickly.

Law found himself understanding why.

his gut twised up around this guy, an all too familiar sensation, especially if he was around Him, and he busied himself with looking over the desk in front of him as a distraction, not much on it other than a computer, notepad, pens and a nameplate with 'Clarence Eustass' engraved onto it.

"Now you two think about what has happened while you wait, I have some work I need to do in the meantime, do not try to leave while I'm gone." And with that he walked out, locking the door behind them and leaving them in the back office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These boys really cannot stay out of trouble for long can they, also sorry for the wait, my brain just decided that blocking me from writing was much more fun than actually writing, but hey its here now so enjoy!


	4. Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note before getting into this chapter, I headcanon that Cora really likes doing his makeup, it's a way to differentiate himself from doflamingo and it's just fun to do  
> Also heeeeyy a chapter within days of the previous one? Miracles are happening
> 
> Also a little more info about greetings and what they mean.

When the door closed, Kid let out an irritated growl, leaving him here would normally be an incentive for him to start trashing the place, And a week out of school for Killer? Fucking hell, he should start with the computer, however he also knew he wasn't alone and also really didn't want to freak Law out. So he squashed the temptation to trash the office. He could deal with his rage after school in the scrapyard.

Not wanting to look at Law thanks to his earlier embarrassment, he pulled his phone out to see if Killer already made some comment on the situation, disappointed to find that he hasn't texted at all yet, and moving to being a lurker online. Again not much was said yet, huffing and needing to do something he checked to see if he needed to reapply his lipstick, finding that it was a bit smudged, he set to gently correcting it.

"Do you have to redo it a lot?" Kid nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden question, he wasn't expecting Law to really want to talk with him right now.

"Uh, no not really, unless it's really hot or something." Or he had found someone at a party... But Law didn't need to know that.

"Oh, Cora needs to reapply his all the time. Though I guess that's not really the makeup's fault…"

"Cora?"

"Uhm…. My dad"

"Oh." Ok so Cora is the name of his dad, said dad he was about to meet with, because he got his son drunk and brought him to school. Ok fantastic. What the hell is he getting himself into. "What's he like?" He asked, not wanting any more awkward silence and out of genuine curiosity. Plus it's good to know a little bit about the man that might kill him.

"He's… um, he's clumsy, He'll probably break something when he gets here, maybe his ankle again." Kid could hear the fondness in Law's voice, and the exasperation, the two definitely were close. "Or his wrist, he broke that when we were packing." 

"Does he spend half his time at the hospital or something?" 

"Almost, he's probably going to befriend the entire fire department by the time this month ends."

It was nice, just chatting with Law like this, the initial awkwardness breezed through making way for the two to genuinely click a bit. Even if they are in the office together awaiting their respective fathers to come in and chat about how much trouble they are in.

Both were quickly pulled from the conversation as a loud crash was heard right outside the door, as well as many panicked noises.

"Oh, he must be here already."

Kid knew he wasn't short by any sense of the word, sure he used to barely graze the 5 foot mark when he was In Jr. High, but now standing currently at a nice 6'4" there wasn't many people he had to look up at, but when that door opened Kid couldn't even hide his shock, that man was a fucking giant, easily passing the 9 foot mark and closing in on 10. Kid felt Tiny compared to him, something he hasn't felt years, the stench of cigarettes and smoke filled the room, a patch of the black feather coat that would look out of place anywhere, was still smouldering. Short Messy blond hair that reminds him of when he and Killer were in elementary, he also wore blue lipstick and lined the underside of his eyes with stars, Kid would be impressed if he wasn't so terrified right now.

Kid got the sense immediately from him that he was far from impressed, A stony look sent to Law and a glare to Kid that made him want to curl up away from him. An act that he refrained from as 'Mr. Eustass' came back into the room.

"I'll see to it that no candles are present the next time you come around to the school, I'd hate for your coat to catch fire again"

"It's fine, this coat has and will survive worse."

Cora sat down, clearly making sure he wouldn't hurt himself with the action, but it was comical just how out of place he looked. An oversized body sitting in a chair ment for average height teens. His knees easily rising above the table and desk in the room.

"Now about what happened today, I'm apologizing on behalf of my son, he knew very well the consequences of his actions as did everyone in this school, however your boy was still taken advantage of for a tradition as silly as the greeting." Kid wanted to throw something at him. "And worse yet my son thought it was alright to bring your intoxicated child to the school."

"It could've been worse if someone else got to him-" 

"I do not want to hear your excuse. What you did today was unacceptable. I'm terribly sorry Cora." Kid looked at him with a sneer, then to Cora, the expression on his face nearly unreadable, but clearly thinking about what was being told to him.

"If I may ask, how do these greetings tend to go? I understand that they are against school policy, but I can also understand maintaining tradition"

"Depends," he shuffled nervously in his seat, well aware of the eyes on him. "On who gets the newbie first." He paused, taking Cora's and his own father's silence as permission to continue. "The greeting I got when I first got into highschool was being dragged to and abandoned at the edge of town and having to walk back in." He noticed Coras face changing ever so slightly. "One of my friends was dragged to school drunk like Law was… another had to get a weird body mod, and another was told to steal something important from one of the teachers desks, completing the task or getting through a situation or getting in trouble… finishes the greeting and they won't be bothered by any other group. But the worst of it is if you go through the whole day avoiding a greeting, I knew someone where that happened, the moment they walked out of the school they were taken off somewhere by almost the entire senior class, I don't know the details, but what I do know is that they ended up in the hospital for months after it."

Kid felt his face flush up in shame as he realised how long he had been rambling. He didn't need to look at his father to know the look he was being given.

"So, that's why we gave him a greeting anyways, to avoid landing him in the hospital via the rest of our grade."

He put his head down, biting back his embarrassment at having talked so long around his father.

At this rate today was going to feel very long.

-~- 

Law was shocked at some of the things that Kid mentioned, yeah sure he was drunk at school but at least he didn't have to walk in from the edge of town. Driving in from there sucked, and what did he mean by the one person who had to go to the hospital? 

"As you can see these greetings are wholly unnecessary, and even down right dangerous-"

"I apologize but I don't see anything inherently dangerous about most of the greetings listed, a bit of trouble sure, but minus where he had to walk back into town, most of these just seem like teenage mischief, what happens when a greeting is missed concerns me more, I'm glad Law will be able to avoid that, However as you said it is against the rules and Law was taken advantage of."

"Actually I knew what I was getting into when I was picked up… it was explained to me in the elevator and in more detail during the car ride."

Law figured that dropping a pin would make more sound than everyone else at the moment, and lying like this, especially in front of Cora felt, so deeply wrong in his gut. Sure it wasn't technically a full lie but… it still wasn't the full truth either. Which he hoped Kid wouldn't point out.

"So, you're saying you were warned and agreed to this?" Law felt like he was in front of Doflamingo again, and he had broken some unspecified rule once more.

"Yes."

He heard Cora take a deep breath in and he hoped to whatever god was out there maybe, that Cora believed him in that moment that he went into this with full knowledge of the situation.

"I see, well then Mr. Eustass, that changes things doesn't it."

"Yes it does." Law swore he could hear the man's teeth grinding.

"Law." Coras sharp commanding voice made him snap to attention. He gripped his jeans tightly as he looked at him. "Since you went into this knowing the consequences, and you knew if you kept quiet you could avoid punishment, but you didnt… I won't recommend a harsh punishment, and ultimately I know it's up to the principal, I'll mention this, you are grounded when you get home." Law could roll his eyes at that, what could he do in this town, it's not like he had friends here and even if he got along with Kids group it wasn't like he knew them all that well.

"Alright Cora."

"And I doubt an out of school suspension would be much of a punishment to you."

Ok he knew that but hey.

"So are you suggesting an in school suspension?"

"It would be best wouldn't it?"

The principal seemed to consider what Cora suggested, as well as the information that Law had given him. Kid hadn't spoken up, hopefully this gets them at least a little less in trouble.

"I see, well, I believe 4 days of in school suspension should work for Law in that case, your classwork will also be delivered to you during that time, now, as for you Kid… one week of an in school suspension." Law saw how Kid immediately tensed up, no doubt that Kid hated an in school suspension more than an out of school one. "Now now, I think it would hardly be a punishment if you also got one week out of school. It's not proper punishment if you spend it with friends right?"

If Cora picked up on the similarities, he didn't show it, a neutral expression as he observed. Law felt incredibly bad for Kid, if this is how he was treated in front of others then what was it like when people couldn't see?

Getting a better look at Clarence, Law noted that if Kid was biologically related to him, he definitely shared no resemblance, Kid was tall, pale, had flaming red hair and rust colored eyes, a sharp nose framing his face with visible red eyelashes. Clarence was by far the shortest in the room, standing even well below his own height, brown hair and green eyes. A thinner frame with tanned skin and a soft rounded nose, aesthetically he didn't sway in either direction, a neutral and rather plain looking man.

Still couldn't stop Law from distrusting his actions from here on out, he bit back his disgust as Clarence babbled on about something.

"- and with that Law, you may take your leave, the receptionist Mark will guide you to the detention room. There you will receive your desk for your duration there, he will also be in charge of getting you to your locker and properly settling you into classes once your punishment is over. Do think over what you've done and agreed to do. I really hope that this does not start a pattern with you."

Law decided against a snarky retort, a combo of not wanting a longer punishment and Cora being in the room. He noted that Kid did not move from his spot.

"And what about Kid?"

That question clearly caught both Clarence and Kid off guard, Law figured it was safest to ask with Cora in the room.

"Since he also has an in school suspension, he should be coming with right?"

"W-well yes but-"

"Law makes a point. Kid should also be dismissed, I doubt that he needs to be kept here any longer, his punishment is sorted, is it not?"

"Yes it is sorted… very well, I will speak to you when you get home boy. You are dismissed."

Law counted that as a tiny victory and the fact he knew that Cora was paying attention to the way Kid was being treated the whole time, Kid hastily getting up and making his way out the door, not giving anyone the chance to change their minds about this.

Law was greeted by who he guessed was Mark as he left the back office. Cora was not far behind him, the receptionist looked warily at Cora and moved several items away as he passed to exit.

"I'll see you at home Law. Stay out of any more trouble you hear me?"

He nodded and was led off to a rather… dingy room, Six desks were lined to each of the side walls, cardboard dividers set in place and a no talking sign greeting him at the entrance. 4 of the desks were taken already and he was seated by the one boy he didn't know, who was currently and loudly, napping.

Today was definitely a way to be introduced into this new town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok fun little comment game, which greetings that kid mentioned do you think Heat, killer and wire got? I'll let you know the answers in the next chapter.
> 
> Also another note about greetings since I may end up forgetting to mention it, they are kinda passed down in a way, so freshmen inherit greetings from the graduating classes to keep the tradition going. Kid has already passed down his greeting in the beginning of the year, your also supposed to keep an eye out for the person your greeting, hence why they stuck around Law when he was drunk.


	5. Evenings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter I think proves what kind of dynamics I like in characters, it was a treat for me to write and i hope it's a treat for all you lovely people to read, mwua!

That asshole could gargle dogshit for all he cared, like hell he was going back to that house when school was done, he was going to pick Killer up from god knows where he wandered to, and head to the scrapyard with the crew and bash the shit out of some old rusted car that had no useable parts, then crash at Killers place, 40% of his shit was probably already over there so it's not like he'd have to go home to get things. Probably going to end up staying there for at least a month now that he's thinking about it more, his father hated being questioned like that. Found it humiliating or something, but fucker deserved it, he could hardly hold in his laughter when he heard him stutter out. 

Whatever, that was a tomorrow problem he could deal with. Though he wished he could see the look on his face when he first saw Cora, the makeup combined with being a full adult over 9 feet tall. His father hated that he and all his friends wore makeup even on occasion. Kid couldn't even begin to imagine what he thought of Cora.

He tried to, for his own amusement, for a moment while he had time, contrary to popular belief, Kid was no idiot and did very well in his classes, so most of his schoolwork was already done. Which left him with plenty of free time to think of many things. 

And people, Especially attractive ones.

Especially the very attractive and very much his type Law who was sitting next to the very not his type Luffy. Seriously he didn't know what people saw in that guy, The most dense aroace guy he's ever had the displeasure of meeting, and yet for some reason people kept falling all over him, and trying to woo him or whatever, at least he's a good eating, and sports rival. And Luffy easily rivaled his ability to get into all sorts of trouble.

Back to thinking about things that matter, Kid wondered what kind of scrap parts he could find after he dealt with his anger, hopefully a decent belt buckle, oh sure he could go out and buy one but that's not half as fun. Or maybe some new tires, he could find dozens of decent tires if he looked in the right places, but he wasn't in any real need of those, he had plenty of spares already.

The only bad part of this plan was if there was a scraping party, those sucked if you got pulled into one by accident and Kid definitely did not need to wake up in some strange place halfway across town. Once was enough for him to avoid it forever now.

He leaned back to see if the teacher watching over them was paying any attention at all, pleasantly finding that he was in fact, also taking a nap. He leaned back forward into his assigned desk and pulled his phone out, setting it to silent properly and checking Killers texts that he decided would be wonderful to send during the most stressful meeting with his father he's ever had.

He resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room as he saw the picture Killer sent.

Kill: "figured you'd like a little reminder of the good things in life" 

Attached was the fucking photo he took when Law was drunk. And tangled into his hair, he felt his face flush up again at the thought of Law running his fingers through his hair again. Much gentler that time round and sober.

"For the love of god I thought I already told you to sleep with one eye open tonight, or do you prefer not getting any sleep at all?"

"You say to the insomniac"

"You're terrible, your killing me here, how could you do this to me jackass, I thought we were friends!"  
"Anyways where do you think you'll end up when school ends, I'm thinking of a trip to the scrapyard"

"Dunno"  
"honestly I'm just surprised your texting at all"

"Escaped him for now I guess, Tomorrow is going to be hell though, wish I took a video, the fucker was stuttering when I left, apparently Law has some serious balls on him"  
"Also did you actually get a good look at Law's dad when you went up?"  
"because jesus fuck"

"Yeah I saw, Giant motherfucker, seems nice enough"  
"Don't tell me your scared of him"

"Shut the fuck up"

"I'll take that as a Yes"

"Fuck you"  
"Anyways"  
"Text me where your at when school lets out, I'll come pick you up"  
"Also I'll be crashing at your place"

"Sounds good"

Now all he had to do was wait out the ticking clock. In complete boredom.

Or get hit in the back of the head with what? A ball of paper? He glanced around when he leaned to pick it up, nobody seemed out of place, Luffy was still sleeping, Heat was messing with one of his piercings, Law was hunched over whatever classwork was brought to him, and Wire was, well he was doing something behind his divider.

He righted himself back in his seat and uncrumpled it, a phone number was all that was written on it, and a strange looking smiley face. It didn't take long for him to work out that this was Law's number, it's the only person that could have done this given the facts of the matter.

He and Luffy did not get along very well, and he already had Heat and Wires numbers, plus he seriously doubted the napping teacher had enough hand eye coordination to throw this in his sleep so…

He squashed whatever excitement he could have had and imputed the number, his finger hovering over the send button of his text, what was wrong with him? It's just a stupid text he could send it. 

"Nice shot law"

"Thanks"  
"What gave it away?"

"The whole fucken, your the only possible person to do that?"

"Oh, I guess it is a lil obvious"

Maybe this wasn't going to be so boring after all.  
.  
.  
.  
Kid rushed to his car the literal second he could, checking over to make sure nothing was damaged or out of place, satisfied that it was still safe he checked his texts, Killer had sent at least 20 since he last replied. It was his most recent text that made Kid consider running him over instead of picking him up.

Kill:"I'm right by Law's apartment, why don't you drop him off and pick me up."

"You genuinely think that I'm going to drop him off?"

"I don't think you will kid"  
"I know you will"  
"There is a difference"

"Ur doing this on purpose asshole"

"Obviously, what else can I do? I'm bored and alone I gotta pass the time somehow, and fucking around with you and your crush is the best entertainment I've got"

"Not a crush fuck you"

"Yeah sure, you don't have a crush and I'm single."  
"anyways come get me already"

Sighing he sent a text to Law because damn him, Killer was right.

"I can drop you off if you want, you shouldn't have to much of a problem with the whole seatbelt issue"

"Sure, thanks"

Looking up as he heard Heat and Wire rushing to take shotgun, an amused smile on his face as they fought over who gets the seat, with Heat ultimately winning and holding the door shut.

"Alright, come on Wire, Heat won this time, get in the back."

Wire grumbled something under his breath and slid into the back on the passenger side, Kid popped open the back and tossed them some cola. Law didn't take long to show up, and a swift glare to the two already in the car kept them from saying anything but not from snickering.

They took their seats and Kid noticed Law looked very nervous in the back, ah well, his deathtrap probably scared him, especially since he's only been in it twice so far and neither of them a good time for him. Kid vows to fix that another day.

Driving off, Kid didn't really pay attention to what the other two were ribbing Law about, not anything important to him at least, though with a glance in the rearview he did see Law hiding his face in his hood. 

It was cute.

The drive was pretty short since he wasn't fucking around this time to disorient Law like this morning. Or stopping anywhere extra considering, true to his word, Killer was right in front of the apartment building, a very smug grin on his face when he saw Kid pull up and park. Law exiting quickly and uttering a quick thank you to him. 

Heat reluctantly gave up shotgun as Killer walked over, replacing himself where Law was previously.

"Well?"

"Shut up. Don't need to hear shit from you." And with that Kid put the car into gear, not even bothering to wait until anyone was settled, he needed to get his anger out and he needed to get it out now. He only took a small amount of pleasure at Killer hitting the seat hard when he drove off, still grinning so smugly at him.

-~-

Law wanted nothing more than to flop down on his bed and sleep for the next 48 hours, exhaustion experienced in every inch of his body. But he knew that Cora probably wanted to talk, and ask a whole bunch of questions. And maybe discuss what happened in the office, mentally he prepared himself on the elevator ride up, each unnatural noise and jitter weighing down on his already frayed nerves.

Getting to the apartment, he saw Cora thumbing through a stack of paper, likely related to his job transfer to this new town. He kicked off his shoes and threw himself onto the couch and into Coras side, curling up and holding onto his arm in a way that he used to much more often when he was a child, it went without words now that he didn't want to talk yet.

"That exhausting of a day?" Cora only moved slightly to accommodate him, letting Law fully grip onto his arm. Only moving to ruffle his hair somewhat and letting it fall limp.

A huff was all Cora got in response to the question and he curled up more.

"I can understand, not everything can go exactly as planned, or will go as planned for that matter." Law knew Cora was talking from personal experience, he was that thing that made a plan go awry, the guilt still ate him up even now. "It can lead to good things though. You just gotta make them good."

He nodded and pressed his back against him more. A silent demand that was complied with, Cora pulling Law gently closer.

"Though I can't say I appreciate you lying to me, I understand why you did it…" ah, there it was, of course Cora knew he was lying, who else in the world would.

"Didn't like it when you lied to me either… you still did it." He couldn't see his face right now but he knew that Cora just twisted up.

"That's why I said I understand."

A small pause before he turned and looked up at him. "Does it help if I say I felt bad doing it?"

That got a soft chuckle from Cora. "Lying doesn't feel good Law, I'd be more surprised if you didn't feel bad."

A smile graced his lips briefly, Cora wasn't mad at him for lying, that was at least one more good thing from today, he settled in, feeling a need to change the topic for now.

"Where are they putting you? I can't imagine what kind of job they'd have you do while you're here."

"Not anything different on paper, I'm still monitoring local activity. Just the less dangerous kind compared to back north."

He nodded and glanced over the paper in front of him. When he was much younger Cora would take care not to let law see the details, but now that he was older, so long as it wasn't strictly confidential, he was allowed to look over, he even sometimes organized it when Cora eventually knocked everything everywhere.

"So it's legally Cora now?"

"Yes, that's pretty much my name now isn't it? And I can't have two on paper unfortunately, and picking Cora let's me… distance myself a bit more. It's a protective thing, especially considering I changed my last name too."

"There isn't much you need protection from other than yourself."

"I know."

Did they always have to drift into this topic? Can't he have 5 minutes without having to think about that asshole? He wanted to get away from that topic as fast as possible.

"So, how about we get takeout for dinner tonight, they have to have some nice local place we could order from. Plus I want to have the kitchen at least a little while longer." He couldn't help his grin when poking fun at Cora's clumsiness.

"How could you say such a thing after I put all that effort into cooking you breakfast!" The fake and dramatic offended tone made him snicker.

He let himself relax more, even if he was now far away from a place he called home. And his friends, Cora was still going to be around. And that's all he could ask for at the moment.

"I'm also curious about something, so I'll be investigating on my own on the side, at least until I can confirm some suspicions I have."

"Cora…"

"Nothing big I promise! Just some small side things I want to have more information on."

Law frowned at him, Cora putting up his free hand defensively.

"Better be nothing big.."

Letting the conversation die there, he settled into the easy silence that Cora had, returning to whatever work was to be done with the paper in front of them. Still gripping onto his arm he let his mind take in today's events, it was wild for sure, and definitely the most trouble he willingly put himself into since living with Cora. But it was fun, even the deathtrap of a car was fun in it's own way, and the driver…

Oh damn his taste in men, damn Penguin for knowing it and damn him for weaponizing it. So what if he found each of them attractive in their own ways, it was that fucking, driver with the softest red hair named Kid that he was infatuated with now. Infatuated enough to write down and throw his number at him, he let out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm going to my room." He detached himself from Cora and made his way to his still somewhat packed room, wanting to distract himself from his own feelings and thoughts, he picked the first small box he could and swiftly cut it open with the nearby scissors. 

He felt a soft pang of sadness as he unpacked what little he had from his first family, a family photo he used to keep on him all the time, a little collection of coins from his home city in a bag, and a plush seal. He didn't mean to grab this box but he was somewhat glad he did, he pulled the stuffed seal close to himself, and kept it in his arms as he set the photo into a frame to hang on his wall, or sit on his end table. The coins going onto his little work desk.

He kept the plushie in his arms as he worked through the boxes, they were mostly clothes, he knew he probably had to get new ones since the climate was different here. But settled for folding them and putting them away, that could wait when he and Cora had time, he sat on his bed and grabbed the picture frame that held such a happy memory for him, an image of him, his little sister, and his mother and father, the stuffed seal he held now, was being proudly displayed by his sister, he had won it for her that year.

Gently he set the photo onto the end table again, along with the seal, he wiped the tears forming away from his eyes using his sleeve and just made an attempt to relax. Pulling his phone out and texting his friends back north, all of them happy to hear he was doing well, but he didn't hold back on lecturing Penguin a little for not warning him his boyfriend was a nutjob.

Not that he really could complain, today was fun, stress of the suspension and the events around it aside, it was also probably the start of something, comforting, he guessed, making new friends was probably going to be hard but he had a solid start now. He hoped at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot promise a weekly update schedule, but I can try to keep to that as best i can. 
> 
> As for the greetings answers from last chapter
> 
> Heat was the one who was made to get a weird body mod, he ended up liking it a whole lot more than he expected and now he has a shit ton of weird mods on his body. The initial mod was a neck tattoo
> 
> Wire was the one asked to steal something important from a teacher, he ended up stealing their phone, and even unlocking it. He didn't keep it all day.
> 
> And Killer was the one to avoid a greeting, he still won't talk about what happened and why he ended up at the hospital.
> 
> I may or may not end up writing prequel one shots of those greetings, y'all wouldn't complain about that would you? It would probably be much later down the line but let me know what ya think.


	6. Faith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how you say your gonna do something and then life slaps you? That's what happened here, I'm so sorry that this chapter is way later than intended.

The satisfying sound of shattering of glass and crunching metal filled the air, a sturdy bat fell onto the rusted vehicle below once more. Kid imagined it to be his father's face, as he pushed all his anger into the next swing, the hood of the decaying truck curving inward. Not too far away Killer was smashing in the side doors, bits of rust and metal flying off, Heat was in the back bringing the fury of hell onto the truck bed, and on the opposite side of the truck from Killer, was Wire jamming the doors with a sharp Pole he had picked up some time ago.

All in all it was cathartic to get out today's anger. The old truck not having anything left to give but a bunch of furious guys an outlet much healthier than beating on the source of said anger, which would land them in jail for aggravated assault and potentially murder. Taking another swing he fully intended to break the hood, a sense of pride when it snapped and fell into the empty cavity where the engine used to be.

A sadistic grin took over his face as the metal crumpled, and cracked, a small sense of pride working its way into his head, he still had his physical strength going for him, he stretched after that blow, his anger having left him for now, a state of well earned contentment replacing it.

"I'm gonna take five and look for some parts." He wasn't sure any of them heard him, until Killer popped his head up to look at him, gave a nod, and returned to making the doors nothing more than dust.

Picking a direction away from the havoc, he started walking, several cars in a similar state to the truck lining his path, he checked over them a bit, if they didn't have seats he passed by them, if they did he looked for a middle belt buckle, that wasn't so rusted it hardly resembles metal anymore. Plastic didn't last long here in his experience, always too brittle.

Hell at this point he might as well look for metal to make his own. Not like it was a difficult mechanism to make, it was just, work. Work he was honestly almost too lazy to do for a buckle.

He did find other parts he could use if the ones currently on his car broke, which was fairly likely given their condition when he found them, ah well, not like he could help it much, he couldn't exactly ask for money to buy the parts he needed, the money he did get from work went to making sure Killer always had some food in his house, plus a savings account under his name and his name only, and nobody but his friends even liked him enough to barter with him.

Whatever. Shit sucks but it's not a big deal.

He made his way back to the now thoroughly wrecked truck, apparently at some point while he was gone they managed to hit something key and the whole damn thing fell to pieces.

"I think we should get headed now, it's around that time when those fuckers start prowls." They made murmurs and nods of agreement, probably more than a little tired from the effort put into breaking the truck.

Gangs loved the scrapyard, it was one of the few lawless areas of the town, cops didn't care enough to check the place so many people came to make shelter and live off of whatever was thrown out, trash to treasure or something like that. Gangs had more put together places, generally not by much but at least there was something resembling a door into their little piles.

Kid found out the hard way 4 years ago why you don't stick around long after dark and the importance of keeping a group when you are. People became active here when you couldn't see much and wrecking the car was great fun and steam blowing for sure, but it was loud and definitely one of the first places to be checked for sure.

They walked in a bit of comfortable silence, the sunset basking everything in an orange and red glow, the items used to break the truck now serving what they really picked them up for, intimidating people to stay the fuck away, nobody wants to fuck around with 4 tall somewhat muscular guys carrying weapons.

Gangs might try but it's not like they don't know how to defend themselves if they have to. But he doesn't want to think about that now.

He just wants to get to Killers place, get food, and crash hard on the couch or his bed, depending on how hot it is outside by that point.

Killers house was the closest to the scrapyard, a shitty little one bed one bath with a small garage that could barely keep his car in, but he would be fucking damned if he brought his car anywhere closer than that, walking to and from the yard was a small price to pay to not have to walk anywhere else because some fucker decided to strip his 3 years of work.

It was dark by the time they made it there, Wire and Heat waving off and walking back to their own homes, the two could handle themselves and Kid wanted to fucking eat damn it.

Killer fumbled slightly with the keys and they got in, lazily they both kicked off their shoes.

"Make me food."

"I'm barely inside, give me five minutes asshole, I'll get you your food."

He flopped down onto the couch, it was old and leather, given to Killer in his grandfather's will, one of the few things left of his old family he cared about, that and his grandmother's cooking supplies and her recipe book. Across from him was a coffee table he and Killer made together, it was wobbly and honestly kinda shitty but it was still something he was proud of. In front of that was a small little tv on top of a stool.

He used some big fancy word to tell him but Killer was no longer living with his bio family, that is what Killer told him a couple years back, disowning his family before they could disown him. Legally freed from them at 16. A year after his grandparents' deaths, what he called the only bearable parts of his family. Good thinking on his part because they had no good reaction when he even mused the idea he might be Bi around them, and god forbid he made anything with more skill than boiling water.

Their fucking loss because Killer was fucking awesome and a great cook, and so what if his house was kinda shitty, it didn't have anyone making it worse that's for sure.

He looked up to his best friend of god how many years now? 12 maybe? He couldn't remember, and honestly didn't want to think about it. Much rather watch Killer work whatever witchcraft that made his food taste so damn good.

"Kid is there something you need? You've been staring."

"Food, and I wasn't staring."

He could hear the smirk in his voice, it's not like it was weird for him to stare at Killer, dude was easy to look at, and also the only one worth looking at right now since that's who's gonna be bringing the food that is smelling absolutely delicious right now. 

"Just food? Kid you wound me." The smirk in his voice was evident, even with his back to Kid.

"Shutupandgofuckyourself."

He was well aware his face matched his hair now, Killer really was capable of doing a lot to him, and still living afterwards.

"Oh don't look at me like that, I can't help but tease you for everything, that's like, my job at this point."

His plate of cabbage rolls was given to him, Killer having his own plate of reheated peperoncino, which he stole a small amount from as Killer took one of his rolls. Yeah even his leftovers were good.

The rest of his food was devoured in minutes, Killer having to remind him to slow down and breathe occasionally with how fast he was eating, but it was his fault for making them that damn good.

After finishing off the place and licking it somewhat clean with Killer making an offhand comment on how much of an animal he was, he flopped down and rested his head on Killer's lap, pulling his phone out, 7 missed calls from his father and 2 missed calls from his mother, wonderful.

He also has around 50 texts from his father as well, he deleted them all without bothering to read the contents, but it was the texts from his mother he bothered to actually put effort into maybe replying.

"Kid please."  
"Come back home please"  
"Look understand that school wasn't the greatest today but you need to come home"  
"Kid please call me!"

He pinched the bridge of his nose, he hated when his mother begged him to come back home. It always made him feel all guilty and shit.

"No. I'm not coming back for a while. I'll still show up at school and shit but I'm not going to that house until he calms down."

His mother started a call when he texted back, he debated with himself about picking up for around 20 seconds before sending to voicemail.

"Not coming back, not calling either, not today at least."

He set his phone down and huffed, Killer placing one hand on his head.

"Your mum?"

"Yeah…" He reached up with his good arm and held Killers hand there, just trying to regulate his emotions before he did something stupid and cried or something.

Whatever Killer was thinking of at that moment he made no comment, just gently ran his fingers in the hair he could reach while being kept in place, soothing circles rubbed into his temple.

"Fuck them, why the hell would I want to go back there when hes so highstrung."

"Dunno, maybe your mom just wants to see you sometimes."

"She'd see me a lot more if she just divorced that asshole…"

Feelings about family were so fucking complicated damn it, why couldn't it be simple. He just wanted some simple fucking feelings about this, but no he had to feel all mixed and messed up, had to love and hate his mother in equal parts because even if she married that asshole, she did it so that they didn't have to-

Yeah shit he's crying now, soft hiccups escaping him without permission. At least it's only Killer seeing him like this, in this shitty little hole they called a home, on a leather couch too important to get rid of yet, whatever he put up during the day to keep himself safe, that didn't matter after a plate of food and laying on one of the only people he could trust.

"You saw right? He talked to me earlier before anyone else. Fuck I dont know, I'd seriously take being away from him over any normal he could provide."

"Yeah I saw, worried the whole time, you know this."

"Yeah but this felt so different, I swear to god I'm fucking terrified of tomorrow, and you wont be there at all-"

"Kid I'm still going to be a text away, say the word and I will run right into that office without caring about consequences."

"Yeah," he wiped away the tears, his foundation coming off on his sleeve. "Yeah thank you, shit I dunno what I'd do without you."

"Probably not have as many cabbage rolls," Kid could only smile at that, just a small one through his tears.  
"I'm serious though I'll kick his ass if you tell me too."

"I know you will."

Kid sat up, the position not doing his prosthetic arm any favors, taking off his shirts and messing around to detach it, Killer watching for a moment, before getting up and taking the empty plates and silverware to the little kitchen, tossing them lazily into the sink.

"Kill, I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Your towel is clean and with the others."

He gave a nod and headed to the bathroom that was honestly way to small for anyone if you asked him, having to bend at an awkward position to get any water on his hair, washing himself with great care, stepping out and grabbing his towel, it had some death metal band name he couldn't read thanks to the font. Drying himself off he walked into Killers room, finding his own clothes tucked away neatly in the closet.

He grabbed his pajama pants, throwing them on and throwing himself onto the king sized bed that took up half of the room, next to it a well used drum kit set up by the dresser, and most of everything organized with meticulous attention. His brand new desktop was sitting on the ancient rickety desk, a source of too many splinters.

"That's supposed to be my bed you know."

"Too bad, I'm on it now."

"My bed, you have a whole couch and you take my bed."

Killer flopped down next to him, too tired to bother arguing about the semantics of who's damn bed it was. As soon as Killer got comfortable, Kid rolled and put his arm over him, silently pulling him closer for snuggles.

Even if in an hour or so the two would have separated and Kid ended up taking up most of the bed and leaving Killer with only a small portion to curl up in, this was the best Kid could ever dare to ask for.

-~-

Law felt himself grin at the antics of his friends, he started this group call with them around midnight and it was now 2 am, but none of them could stop now, especially now that Bepo was talking about the latest episode of Sora, warrior of the sea that they watched together about a half hour ago.

"And the way they've been redeeming Stealth black is interesting, but that's comic spoilers, sorry Law…"

"It's fine, I'll read about it when the comics come to my new address."

They talked more about theories for future events, what the possible redemption of Stealth Black ment for the future of the plot, and if other villains would be redeemed as well and if so which ones.

"Wait, Law isn't it really late where you are? Or uh, early? Sorry for bringing it up but… you should probably get to sleep." When Bepo said this, Law knew it was too late for him, all of his other friends starting to voice how worried they are about his health. And that he needs to get to sleep right now.

"Alright alright, I get the message, I'll talk with you after school. Good night."

He ended the call, unfortunately he wasn't tired, he was probably the most awake he ever was. Which sucked majorly for him because of the fact he was absolutely going to be dead tired by the time school rolls around. Oh the woes of having insomnia and a horrific sleeping schedule in general, maybe if he's lucky he can catch a nap in his suspension.

Or if Kid ends up picking him up again he could nap in the car… no bad idea, that's an embarrassment waiting to happen. Law mentally slapped himself for thinking of that.

Well if he cant sleep he might as well check the social media pages of the area, give himself a good idea of what the place was like and what events he already missed and which ones were coming up that he would also miss because crowds were not his thing.

How did he even end up with so many friends back north? The more he thought about it the less sense it made, he wasn't very social, and he never really made it easy to be friends with him, Bepo being a notable exception because honestly Law felt a very strange brotherly connection to Bepo. But with the others he just couldn't understand it, he just, was friends with them and inexplicably so. 

Like with Penguin and Shachi, those two used to pick on Bepo for god's sake, and now look at them, they somehow got close to him, and ended up as Bepo's friends. After a very lengthy apology from them.

Thinking on it more, before he moved he was actually fairly popular at his old school, lots of attention and eyes on him, often looking up to him like he was a good role model or something. He was studious, sure but not anywhere close to being someone to look up to.

Didn't matter now, he was in a whole new place, hopefully he didn't gain that same popularity. It was always a nuisance.

What was he doing? Oh right, social media research, he checked over the high school's official account and cringed hard. It was so obvious that a bunch of adults were running the page without any research done into modern internet slang.

Law decided to end that research there, unable to take the second hand embarrassment from looking at the account anymore. Setting his phone back onto his charger, 2:05, yeah this was going to drag on wasn't it.

Getting up from bed finding his body sluggish, he paced around his room somewhat, mentally mapping more of what he was going to put where, and how he was going to organize it, before heading out of his room, and hearing Cora's voice from the living room.

"Yeah things are getting settled fine." Oh so he was on the phone with someone. "No, no I haven't started yet I'm not a miracle worker you know."

"…"

"yeah no shit, think next time you ask somebody that question why don't you."

"…"

"shut up I don't need to hear that, and yes I will talk to you like that."

"..."

"No you are not my superior, try again with that excuse I dare you."

He heard the deep breath Cora took, and knew he was smoking again.

"Yeah that's all dandy isn't it, of course I'll do my best to make sure he doesn't slip into the area."

"…" 

"Don't say that." The slight tremor in his voice gave away his building frustration, it took a lot to get Cora like that.

"…"

"I did my job for as long as I could, 4 years of information you know, 4 years of being there wasn't easy"

"…"

"Oh don't even imply that, don't you ever imply that again you hear me? Yes I'm getting worked up about it! No! Keep this up and see where It gets you!" His hand was heard hitting the couch. 

"..."

"Alright, good fucking job, you got it through your thick skull not to tell me that opinion of yours again, I'll do what I was sent here to do, you will receive my updates when I send them, and you will never imply that bullshit you just did ever again, good talk. Night."

Law exhaled the breath he was busy holding, right, Cora made these kinds of work calls when he thought he was sleeping, he peeked into the living room, he was right about his guess. Cora was smoking, an ashtray already well used on the coffee table. He watched him rest his head in his hands, and Yelp when he accidentally burned himself.

"Cora you need to pay more attention when you're smoking."

"Oh fuck, shit, did I wake you?" He quickly put out his cigarette.

"No, I was already awake…"

"Ah, how much did you hear?" 

"From when you stated you were settling fine."

Cora grimaced a bit.

"Ah, sorry you had to hear that." He coughed slightly. "Anyways, is getting to sleep being difficult again?"

"Yeah…"

Cora opened his arms and Law didn't think twice on going to them. He didn't fit quite as well anymore but Cora was still more than capable of enveloping him in a warm hug, tension he didn't know he had fading away as he rested his head on Coras chest, a steady and strong heartbeat greeting him, he always liked listening to it.

_Thump  
Thump  
Thump_

A solid reminder that a person was living, he listened to the heartbeats of almost everyone he was close to, Bepo, Penguin and Shachi. But Cora would always be the one he cared for the most, and the one he was most familiar with.

_Thump  
Thump  
Thump_

He closed his eyes and focused on the sound and feeling of the heartbeat, feeling himself slip into sleep in the safety of Cora's arms and his favorite sound.

_Thump_  
_Thump  
Thump_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emancipation is what Kid is referring to in where he thinks about Killer not legally being tied to his family anymore, it's something that's difficult to do and you have to have some serious reasons for it, it's a little easier in this au but yeah, there is a long process that you have to go through to get it, it just basically means that Killer was legally considered an adult for the most part at 16, he still had to wait until he was 18 to do things like vote and legally drink.


	7. Blooming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before writing this I used to wonder how people could write such long stories with high word counts, I understand now.

Kid woke up to the smell of breakfast, his mouth watering from the amazing smells wafting in from the open door, it took him a moment after standing and stretching to realize he woke up before his alarm, picking up his phone that he forgot to plug in, he swore at himself checking that he was on 3%.

Grumbling and plugging in his phone he stepped out to retrieve his arm, safely laying on the coffee table where he left It, reattaching everything and glancing up to the kitchen to see Killer at the stove, and a quick succession of thoughts hit him.

Killer was cooking which means fresh food, that also means that Heat gets out of today for breakfast, and that Killer was cooking more than usual.

"Oi, how's the bird doing?" Kid understood weird names, but that wasn't going to stop him having fun with it, "what's his name again, canary?"

"That's not even the same first letter." Killer was deadpan in his delivery, but his tone and posture let Kid know that yeah, he's getting a little under his skin, serves him right for all of the teasing Killer put him through yesterday. "And he is doing fine, thank you for asking"

Satisfied with himself for now, he got up and left the room to get dressed, grabbing a shirt that honestly he couldn't remember if it belonged to Killer or him first, and put it on, changing his pants for jeans and getting a clean pair of socks.

Then going to the bathroom where his makeup that was kept here and Killers hair products fought for control of the space, he went to look for his foundation, finding the bottle empty, fun, he's going to have to replace that, he sighed and applied violet lipstick and a small amount of brown eyeshadow, and subtle eyeliner. He frowned that he couldn't hide his freckles, he wasn't a fan of them and generally avoided showing them when he could, but there wasn't much he could do until he was able to get new foundation.

Stepping out and getting his goggles on he picked up the portable charger Killer kept for situations like this, and got everything all set, putting it in his pocket and checking his texts per usual, heat and wire had sent their texts letting him know they got home safe, and he shot them both a quick text that Killer was cooking this morning.

His thoughts came back to the fact that Killer was cooking way more than normal.

"Not even all of us could eat that much, why are you making a whole extra serving?"

"Because you're probably going to pick up Law again right?"

"You don't know for sure!" But Killer was right, he planned on texting Law and asking him if he wanted a ride, he was pretty sure that Law would accept because who would turn down a free ride?

This definitely wasn't an excuse to talk a bit more with Law no sir, he just feels bad about the whole suspension situation.

Ignoring the blatant smirk Killer had on his face, he pulled his phone out to text Law about picking him up.

"Morning"  
"Hey Killer made way too much for breakfast, you want some?"

"What is it?"  
"Everyone I know tells me I'm very picky."

"Omelets, I think"

"Then yeah I want some"

"Cool, I'll come pick you up if that's cool?"

"Yeah that's Fine"

Trying to contain his emotions because he refused to give Killer any more ammo, he did an internal victory dance. 

"Oi, Kill, is the food ready yet?"

-~-

Waking up disoriented in his own bed after being lulled to sleep by his dad's heartbeat on the couch and then being invited kinda to breakfast by Kid was a way to start his morning. He was still tired as shit but did manage to drag his body out of bed and change out of yesterday's clothes and into new ones.

Same hoodie though, it wasn't dirty yet.

Stepping out of his room to the smell of coffee, he felt his heart drop a little in anticipation, he did really enjoy his breakfasts with Cora, but he was offered breakfast and he isn't one to say no to food when he can eat it.

"Morning, I was invited for breakfast by someone, so-"

Cora had given him big ol puppy eyes, he expected this and kept his face as neutral as possible.

"So I'll only be having coffee with you instead, I'll take whatever you cooked for me for my lunch…"

"Oh thank goodness! I thought you were just going to up and leave me allllllll alone for the morning!"

Law enjoyed his mornings with Cora, when he was working full time back north, their mornings together were all they had. Between school and Cora's work, the mornings were the rare moments of peace and tranquility. Sitting down at the table Cora gave him his coffee, enjoying the silence.

Cora was on his tablet again, scrolling through something as he made notes on the pad beside him, he wasn't wearing make up yet which gave Law a rare look at his face, it was strange seeing him without colored lips and weird eyeshadow. He definitely preferred it when his dad wore makeup.

His coffee was just how he usually liked it, 2 cream 1 sugar, and while he was envious of the food Cora had, he knew we wouldn't be able to eat the breakfast Kid offered and the breakfast Cora cooked.

His phone let him know that Kid had texted him, letting him know that he was going to be there in 9 or so minutes, and to be ready when he got there. Law finished his coffee off and packed up the food Cora cooked with some leftovers from last night for his lunch, getting the schoolwork that was very suddenly dumped on him, into his bag again because he did dedicate at least a few hours at home to chewing through it. 

He got his shoes on when his phone went off letting him know Kid had arrived, waving bye to Cora.

"Try not to get into more trouble Law and be safe!"

"You should focus more on keeping yourself safe Cora, see you later."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like i need to address something, its that's why I dont reply to comments very often, I have social anxiety that makes me panic when I'm speaking with unfamiliar people, combine that with my ADHD and struggling with how I come off in tone over text makes it very difficult for me to reply, but that doesn't mean I don't read or enjoy your comments! In fact your comments have motivated me quite a bit in writing this especially when I didn't think this would get much attention.
> 
> So I wanna thank you for reading this story so far! I'll do my best to make it worthwhile! I adore each of you dear readers make sure to take care of yourself!


	8. Chatter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the sweet comments on the last chapter! They really helped ease some of my worries while i was writing this. I wish I could figure out how to thank each of you personally but for now all I can do is keep writing this for you all!

Picking up Law and driving to the alley to eat was calmer than he expected, Killer kept a close guard over the food as usual, 5 divided Tupperware filled with around how much of them usually ate, the 5th very much the smallest of them, most likely for Law. Of course for most of the drive Law was quiet, until Wire mentioned something small about the local hospital being choosy about patients again. Which infuriated him enough to rant about how shitty the medical field was most of the time, and how too many doctors let their biases affect the treatment of the patient.

It was a surprising thing to learn about how passionate Law was about medical discrimination, but it was definitely endearing to see him rant about it. Kid liked how honest and raw he was at that moment. It helped that they all felt similarly to him about that, Heat especially with his own medical problems that were ignored by doctors.

Arriving at their spot, Killer handed out the plastic forks and the Tupperware, the omelets while not hot anymore, were still warm enough to be enjoyed. Kid not hesitating to dig in.

"Thank you for the food, Killer." Law seemed fairly polite, probably a bit nervous, especially since he went quiet again.

Killer only made a small dismissive wave, Digging into his own breakfast, the last to do so. Kid felt a sense of pride for his best friend when Law made a face of surprise, everyone usually got a small shock of how good Killer is at cooking. These omelets were no exception to his skill.

"Fucking good right? Kill makes the best damn food."

Law nodded, pausing in the middle of shoveling the food into his mouth. Which got a small ripple of chuckles from most of them, Killer only smiling. Yeah even without words they knew that Law really was enjoying the food. Kid thought it was cute how his cheeks puffed a little, like little hamster cheeks, that were getting a little of a blush.

Kid polished off his serving, flicking the fork into the plastic bag he used for garbage, giving Killer his container back, checking his phone idly as he heard Law asking about Heat's mods and tattoos.

"This one I got done at 15, it was my first serious tattoo, it also opened the door way to more, odd tattoos and piercings, like the stitch tats I have on my face, I also have corset piercings but I don't wear them often now that everything is set." Kid smiled, Heat was very passionate about his mods, and it was nice that Law wasn't an asshole like some people were about them.

"Corset piercings?"

"Yeah, they are body piercings that form two parallel lines, and you can lace them like a corset, mine are done on both my sides and my back. It's not as uncomfortable as you might think."

"Those sound very intense. I imagine they hurt quite a bit when you first got them done"

"He cried like a bitch when he got the ones on his back done." Wire interjected, much to Heats annoyance.

"I did not cry."

"Yeah but you bitched."

Kid laughed as Heat reached around Law to lightly punch Wire for his comment. Killer letting out a sigh, his hand resting on his cheek. And Law awkwardly smiled.

"You three finished back there? I don't hear any more eating." As much fun as eating with them was, sometimes they got caught up in their banter a little too much and ended up wrestling in his car, which is not fun for him, his car, and definitely wouldn't be fun for Law.

The three passed up their empty containers and put their forks in the bag. Killer stating that he's gonna head to the nearby general store, he needed to pick up some stuff, telling everyone that he'll see them later. Wire very swiftly taking the vacant passenger seat.

Kid let everyone get buckled in before driving to the school, deep anxiety setting in, he really hopes if he can slip in quickly and quietly enough, he won't have to deal with his father. He would skip but, he doesn't want to give people yet another reason to think lowly of him.

The four quickly slipped past everyone to get to the detention room. Kid was stopped by one of the teachers on the way, waving off Heat and Wire as Law had already gotten into the detention room, he was asked to go to the office. Wonderful. The secretary was quiet as usual when it was just Kid and his father in the front end.

"You didn't come back home like I told you to."

"Piss off, I'm 18 I can go where I want to."

"You still live in my house boy. You're my responsibility. What if you had gotten seriously hurt again and your mother and I-"

"Like you give a shit about whether or not I get hurt."

"Let's talk more about this in my office. Kid."

-~-

Law couldn't focus on the work in front of him right now, so much over so little time was really starting to get to him, plus he felt nervous for no real reason he could understand about Kid not being in the room yet. When he did come to the room, nothing was obviously wrong, just went to his seat and started on the work presented to him.

Since staring at Kid wasn't an option, he turned back to the rather frustrating english work presented to him. Something about a book he's never even read a summary of, pulling up the book on his phone he decided to make an attempt at bullshiting the essay.

Because honestly fuck this school already with its expectation of him reading a book he never had any interest in, especially since he wasn't attending this school at the time this was assigned and it's not like could ask a teacher for help now. Or an extension.

They probably should've had some kind of system for this instead of throwing him into the deep end. It's not that he was stupid by any means and his grades proved it, it's just that he had literally one more day to complete this particular essay.

Whelp, it's not like he's going to get it done bitching about it to himself. Might as well start on it.  
.  
.  
.

The end of the day could not have come any sooner, seconds ticking away with his patience. Sure he was able to complete the work and get it to the front where the so called supervising teacher was, but it was the snoring coming from the boy next to him that really got to him.

And the fact that he only seemed to wake up at lunch and immediately ask him for some food. When denied he pulled out his own lunch which was far more than law could ever eat and proceeded to inhale it.

Law found himself without much of an appetite after that.

Somehow, Luffy, as he ended up finding out against his will, made the decision that they were friends, and best friends for that matter.

And now he was snoring again, which was far easier to deal with before lunch. But now he was irritated and with every noise made, set him just that more on edge.

His body was tense and he knew if he couldn't leave sometime soon that the sleeping boy next to him would end up as an unfortunate casualty.

The final bell signaled for them to leave at long last and Law found himself somewhat glued into Kids group, going for the most part unnoticed, most conversations went quiet as they passed, evolving into whispers barely heard.

Law did his best to ignore them, best not to give those types of people attention. Though they definitely seemed to leave Kid and his friends the hell alone. Whether it was from pure intimidation or from something else was still up in the air for now.

Still he found himself enjoying the company of Heat and Wire, while quiet for the most part, and happy to let others take the lead in conversation. The two definitely had passion in what they did talk about. And with Wire he found out that was music composition.

Law quickly put it together that Wire often wrote solo instrumental demos in his free time on his laptop. And that he was more than happy to share these with Law sometime in the near future.

Law noted the car wasn't moving yet as Kid was texting someone, but he didn't mind too much as the conversation drifted back to Heat's tattoos and piercings.

"So where did you get them done? Is there like a professional place here?"

"Yeah, wouldn't trust anyone else to do it, it's this little place called Pristine Chaos. It's probably the only place in town that cleans their damn equipment."

"Let me guess, the rest of the places have high infection rates?"

"Yeah, made the mistake of getting a piercing done at this place called Arcane Punks, spent a week cleaning the damn thing out."

"Yuck"

"Yeah, don't go there if you ever want anything done."

He kept this knowledge in the back of his mind as he was driven home, Kid seeming to have finished texting with whoever, Law was honestly planning to check out this Pristine Chaos place sometime in the future, just out of curiosity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love you dear readers lots! Take care of yourselves!


	9. Classes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I'm so sorry this update is so late, I was working on my other W.i.p and then life happened to me and I couldn't get this chapter written as fast as I wanted to.
> 
> Hopefully life doesn't make writing hard again! Enjoy!

Kid was finally back in classes and he couldn't be happier to get out of that depressing as hell suspension. Once he was the last guy there things were hard. He also reflected on how easily Law clicked into his routine, it kinda scared him a bit, but it's not like he could judge too much, he did kinda pull most of the people he was friends with into his little group like that. He fondly remembered how he pretty much decided from day one after seeing him that he was going to be Killer's friend. All the way back in kindergarten. Heat came around in middle school and Wire in the beginning of highschool.

Those were simpler times, unlike how god damn confusing things were now.

And of course it wasn't like classes were much better then suspension but at least his father couldn't just call him into his office on a whim. Asshole has to have an actual reason for it now.

He quickly found he shared his AP math with Law, Grinning he sat by him.

"Oh, glad to see you're actually in classes now." Law had picked a table way in the back, close to the window. His voice taking an almost disconnected tone. 

"Eh, they couldn't keep me forever ya know."

Apparently the usual math teacher was out sick so a sub was brought in, some older lady he didn't bother with the name of, which sucked because the math teacher was the only teacher he actively liked, an opinion shared by most of the school but hell sometimes the majority is right on some things.

Kid quickly found himself bored with the monotone way the sub taught the class, boring lecture, boring monologues about math, boring boring, so god damn boring! He was tempted to nap, except the sub sent a person who only just put their head down to the office. And he was not gonna see his father again for this ladies power trip.

Ah shit, in how anxious he had been, over the past couple of days, he picked at his nails again. Now he has to redo them, thank god the windows were open and he was in the back of the class. And thank god the work in front of him was easy enough for him to bullshit some equation for. Sure his brain liked math well enough and he could easily do quick calculations in his head but most of his teachers seemed persistent in getting his process on paper, like hell if he knew it. Writing some shit down often got them off his back.

He glanced over at Law once he was done his sheet work that he honestly could go without for the rest of the year. He was also done and staring out of the window bored.

He pulled out his nail polish and supplies for redoing his nails that he always kept on him, whatever color his nails were that day and the top coat, which was scattered holo this time. Oh, his nail habits are probably why he gets along better with the girls than guys, this realization led him to think about charging a small fee to the next girl that asked him to do their claws. He never understood why girls liked their nails long other than maybe as a self defense thing.

He caught Law staring at him doing his nails, before he softly spoke, so only he could really hear.

"Hey could you paint one of my nails?"

"Just one?"

"Yeah, I uh, never really had my nails done before. So one is a good start yeah?"

"Mmhm, it's fine, which one do you want done?"

"My middle finger." The smirk Law gave was so full of satisfaction, and amusement at his own thoughts. Kid couldn't help but grin back.

"Alright give me the hand you want it done on."

Law reached out with his right and Kid got to work, applying one coat of black polish to it, and waiting for it to dry.

"Want the other hand to match?"

"Sure, Why not."

With a smile he painted Law's other finger, Kid found his hands to be surprisingly soft, he fought away a blush that threatened to show on his face, and checked to see if the first coat was done drying yet. Finding it was, he applied the second coat to make sure it was opaque.

He waited patiently for a bit, letting the nails dry, and then finishing up on it, Kid felt Law having only his middle fingers painted suited him.

He pulled back after finishing, the teacher was yapping about something again, he didn't care. He just wanted class to be over.

-~-

Law was fighting the blush that he was hoping to hell and back Kid didn't notice, he felt embarrassed enough about asking for his nails done and the fact he noticed how obvious the difference in their hands were when Kid was holding it still so he could paint.

That is to say, Kid's hand was big enough to completely surround his own if he so chose, they were surprisingly well taken care of. Calming down and listening to the substitute go over some of the material, he couldn't pull his phone out because the power trip the sub went into whenever she could take away someone's phone was not worth the effort of hiding it.

Law thought back to when his suspension first ended and he heard not so subtle complaints of this sub. According to anyone he asked she was horrible in comparison to the normal teacher, by his standards she was fine, controlling but she did her job well enough he couldn't complain much.

That didn't stop him from complaining, but she wasn't the worst part of his day. That spot would be taken by his gym class. Law isn't sure if he should thank or curse god for it. On one hand he had no real interest in the class itself or being in shape further than maintaining his current health, it was exhausting and tedious, plus he didn't like sports in general and on the other, this school was full of attractive guys his age.

It's a real struggle to pick a side on how he feels about it.

When the bell finally signaled for the class to change he gathered his things quickly. His work sheets were thrown into his bag to be organized later at home. And he got up, knowing he was going to see Kid hopefully at lunch at least, if Luffy didn't drag him off to sit with him again, like the last time.

He ignored the thought, Luffy was a pain sure but he had his least favorite class to get to now.

The gym was on the other side of the school to the math class, a rather well kept area of the school, a stage right near the entrance where teachers and the like talked during assemblies, three sets of locker rooms lined the hall just outside of it, one for the guys, girls and a disability friendly room.

Law as usual kept his head low as he entered the changing areas, but of course since he was still new to this school and these classes, he got stared at. He felt uncomfortable with all these eyes on him, and didn't look or speak at anyone, just got changed as quickly as he could and his stuff was locked into his temporary locker. He was thankful he shared this class with Wire, if he had to attend with absolutely nobody he was even acquainted with, he would have just skipped.

Entering the gym for attendance, he couldn't help but feel uncertain and uncomfortable, something about this particular teacher set him off in a way he couldn't understand. She was also a new teacher, likely the youngest one in the school. Maybe it was how close she sounded to the other girls in class that made him so uncomfortable. 

Once the teacher finished calling everyone's names, they were split into two teams for a dodgeball match, Law grimaced internally, he hated dodgeball for the simple reason that it was so overused in gym and everyone always seemed to throw said balls hard enough at him to leave bruises. He hated it back at his old school, he hates it here in his new one.

Thankfully he and Wire ended up on the same team, so at least gym was going to be survivable today. Hopefully he could make it to lunch without super concerning bruises this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember in gym lots of the guys when playing dodgeball would throw them hard enough to leave bruises, didn't help that our teacher at the time kept having us play it, I prefer kickball over any other sport I played in gym.
> 
> Now Law has to deal with it, that's what he gets for putting off taking the class for so long.


End file.
